Near West Side & Little Italy

The Near West Side is the wide stretch between the Loop and Western Avenue that holds the University of Illinois Chicago campus, the Illinois Medical District and what remains of Little Italy along Taylor Street. Taylor Street’s Italian restaurants, beef stands and lemonade stand survived the university’s 1960s expansion, and the blocks around it have filled with UIC students, hospital workers and new townhomes. The United Center sits at the west end near Madison and Damen, and Greektown runs along Halsted at the east end. It is a neighborhood of institutions with residential pockets in between.

Where it is

The community area runs from the Kennedy and Dan Ryan expressways west to Western and from Kinzie south to the Eisenhower and 16th Street, with Little Italy centered on Taylor Street between Halsted and Ashland. The Blue Line’s Forest Park branch runs down the Eisenhower median with stops at UIC-Halsted, Racine, Illinois Medical District and Western, and the Pink and Green lines cross the north edge at Ashland and Morgan. The 7 Harrison, 12 Roosevelt and 20 Madison buses cover the rest. The Loop is a ten-minute Blue Line ride.

What to know if you’re moving here

Students, residents and hospital staff share the housing, and the mix keeps rents lower than the West Loop next door.

• Housing is rowhouses, condos and new townhome construction built from the 1880s on, with typical prices of roughly $250,000 to $1 million as a broad editorial estimate as of September 2026.
• Street parking is tight around UIC and the hospitals, and United Center event nights close streets and fill the rest; most blocks are permit zones.
• Public schools fall under Chicago Public Schools, with Whitney Young Magnet High School on Jackson the best-known school in the area.
• The Illinois Medical District is the largest urban medical district in the country and the biggest employer for miles.
• Three L lines and two expressways make this one of the best-connected neighborhoods outside the Loop.
• The drawback is traffic and noise on Bulls and Blackhawks game nights and concert nights at the United Center.

What to do if you’re visiting

Taylor Street is the walkable strip, and the United Center is a bus or a long walk west of it.

• Locals will tell you Al’s #1 Italian Beef on Taylor is the 1938 original of the beef chain, and Carm’s Beef & Italian Ice on Polk is the neighborhood’s other beef and Italian ice stop.
• Ask around and you hear that Jim’s Original on Union, under the Dan Ryan, sells the Maxwell Street Polish with grilled onions around the clock on weekends.
• Anyone who lives here knows Billy Goat Tavern on Madison on Madison is the game-night burger stop near the United Center.
• Regulars will say Park Tavern on Jackson is the sports bar with the big patio a few blocks from the arena.
• Taylor Street between Halsted and Ashland has the Italian delis, bakeries and the summer Italian lemonade stand that make the strip a walk in itself.
• The National Hellenic Museum and the Halsted Street Greek restaurants are a ten-minute walk east of Taylor.